User talk:Rethgaul
Welcome Hi, welcome to Master of Magic Wiki! Thanks for your edit to the Ocean page. Please leave a message on my talk page if I can help with anything! -- Headrock (Talk) 12:58, August 24, 2012 Edits are great Good work on those edits, they're all good, no complaints from me. Regarding other work to be done, that's a bit of a problem. While I do use a sort of set format to make new pages, almost every page I make requires certain exceptions that cannot be anticipated in advance. Plus, I put in a lot of effort into making sure that I add all the relevant information, or as much as possible, on the first go. You could say I don't "trust" anyone to be able to reach the standards I've set for this wiki... Of course there is TONS of work to be done - but for anything more than style and error-fixing edits, you'd need to do a lot of proper research, reading the manual, making repetitive tests inside the game, reading the Strategy Guide and/or the MoM FAQ, and so forth. For example, all the pages on the various wizards (Merlin, Kali, etc.) are virtually empty and need a lot of extra material, but to write anything relevant you'd have to research them. It's not only difficult, but in some cases impossible without all of the source materials at hand. For now, I'd be glad if you could just read the existing pages and make more edits, perhaps you'll find something interesting to do yourself. In the meanwhile I'll try to think about something more "in depth" that might be suitable. --Headrock 16:09, August 25, 2012 (UTC) :Are you at all interested in uploading new images from the game? Because that would be extremely helpful, and is way more interesting than a typo-hunt. :) :--Headrock 23:03, August 26, 2012 (UTC) Sure, do we have a particular area we need images uploaded from? --Rethgaul 23:38, August 26, 2012 (UTC) :Not in particular - just pay attention when you read pages, try to think whether they need more artwork, and if you've got a good idea for a screenshot - produce it. Or anything else you think might be useful. --Headrock 00:34, August 27, 2012 (UTC) :: Does the Wiki support animated images? I was wondering if I could knock together some animated sprites of things like spell effects. What do you think? --Rethgaul 00:39, August 27, 2012 (UTC) ::: The wiki does indeed support animated GIFs, but only when the image is left at exactly its original size (no site-based resizing) and without a caption, which is why they're not really favored. Also as on Wikipedia, animated images should be used lightly as they can distract people while reading the text. Still, some animations may be in order, for example I've thought of moving or rotating unit images at the top of the various Unit articles (top left corner, instead of the still tactical image). Would add a lot of life to the pages, but just making some of these still images was hard in and of itself. ::: BTW I think it should be fairly easy to write some code that allows those images to animate only when moused-over. However that would require two versions of the image, one static and one animated, so that the code can switch them. In that case all the animated images would be suffixed the same way (so, the still "Tactical_Chimeras.png" is the animated "Tactical_Chimeras_Anim.gif", for example). Then a few lines of code could automatically switch them when the mouse hovers over the image, and they don't otherwise move. ::: --Headrock 00:56, August 27, 2012 (UTC) Possible Work I've just thought of something. We're probably going to need images of the various items. Would you be willing to try this? If so, drop a line on my talk page. Thanks in advance. --Headrock 23:53, August 31, 2012 (UTC) I think it would be better with a transparent background. The name format should be: Item__#.png Where is one of the following: * Sword * Mace * Axe * Wand * Staff * Bow * Shield * Chain * Plate * Jewelry And # is a sequential number within the group. Note the capitals, the wiki is case-sensitive, so put caps in for "Item" and for the Type. Examples Item_Sword_1.png Item_Sword_2.png Item_Sword_3.png Item_Staff_1.png Item_Staff_2.png and so forth. --Headrock (Talk) 12:27, September 1, 2012 (UTC) Cool, shouldn't take too long. --Rethgaul 14:01, September 1, 2012 (UTC) :Oh crap, they're all downsized! I forgot - the images I take from the game are all from a 2x renderer, they should be twice larger than the ones taken directly from the game files... :I guess I'll need to upsize them or something. --Headrock (Talk) 14:35, September 1, 2012 (UTC) Hmmm... well I'll stop for now, done Swords, Mace, Axe Staff and Bow. I'll see if I can find a way to upsize the rest easily on my end. For the "Jewellery", I've got them labelled as their respective subtype, i.e. Cloak, Helm, Orb etc. Do you want me to stick to the generic Jewellery label or use the more descriptive versions? --Rethgaul 14:52, September 1, 2012 (UTC) :If you're going to upsize, make sure the algorithm simply copies each pixel to 2x2 instead of 1x1 - have a look at things like , each pixel is actually 2x2 large. Don't use dithering or anti-aliasing or anything like that. :As to the Jewelry, I think it'll be best with Item_Jewelry_#.png, since there's no real difference between the various item types in game terms. :--Headrock (Talk) 15:03, September 1, 2012 (UTC) :That's perfect! --Headrock (Talk) 15:50, September 1, 2012 (UTC) :Good work with the items, I deleted the two superfluous ones, so it's all good now. Regarding the shields, I'd prefer to lose the empty slot at #11. How many shield images are there beyond 11? --Headrock (Talk) 16:59, September 1, 2012 (UTC) :Hey, I'm excited about the items being added! --MysticX2 23:02, September 1, 2012 (UTC) Edits to WIP Don't worry about it. Usually the idea is not to make any major edits: for instance, adding data you think is missing (it's usually just about to be added anyway), or editing an entire section that looks like it's talking about a different subject (it's like a copy/pasted section that hasn't been touched yet). Your edits simply fixed obvious errors, and that's just fine. --Headrock (Talk) 20:57, September 2, 2012 (UTC) I assumed that was the case, just thought I'd check being that I noticed you specifically said don't edit. :) --Rethgaul 21:31, September 2, 2012 (UTC) Caster Please give your opinion regarding the new Caster article. It's a major concept, so all improvement suggestions are extremely important. --Headrock (Talk) 23:06, September 2, 2012 (UTC) :Ummmm, for a moment I was very excited about seeing the Alorra screenshot, but then it got weird. Where is her Pathfinding? Why does she have Forester? How did she get a total of 5 Hero abilities (3 regular, 1 super) when she's only allowed to have 4? :I don't get it, maybe the Caster pick screwed the game up or something? I'm gonna run some more tests. :Sorry, I got confused (it's early morning). Also, the Strategy Guide apparently has an error in it. --Headrock (Talk) 11:29, September 3, 2012 (UTC) How about This or This? :) --Headrock (Talk) 21:31, September 3, 2012 (UTC) Also This or This? :) :) :) --Headrock (Talk) 21:35, September 3, 2012 (UTC) :Possibly the 2nd for fame and the first for experience. They're different sizes to each other but seem to fit in line the best --Rethgaul 21:37, September 3, 2012 (UTC) ::I've just moved them a tad bit upwards. Look at this: This or This? This or This? --Headrock (Talk) 21:40, September 3, 2012 (UTC) Another option, with the brown background of experience icons in the game: This and This The background is a bit dark, but obviously I can do it in any color... :I think the smaller icons on the two are better since there aren't really any details to the images (which is fine). Since the horns are from legendary it would make sense to use those for fame and the pendant is from the level it would make sense to use that for experience.MysticX2 00:21, September 4, 2012 (UTC) ::I'd agree with MysticX2, I think the smaller icons are better. I like the dark background for experience though. --Rethgaul 12:20, September 7, 2012 (UTC) Writing an Article Since you expressed some interest in creative work, I figure it'd be great to see how you write an article. I currently have three articles that need writing: Doom Bolt Spell, Fireball Spell and Summon Demons. They describe three Unit Abilities that are very much similar to each other - and very similar to an existing article called Web Spell. Thus, it should be fairly easy to copy the format from Web Spell to the other three articles, and make all necessary alterations to fit the new subjects. Obviously, since the Web spell is very different from the other three spells, complete rewriting needs to be done in several places. Fortunately, most if not all of the data you need can be found with on the pages of the units possessing these Unit Abilities, i.e. Warlocks, High Men Magicians and Demon Lord, respectively. You could study these, and write the new articles accordingly. If you're interested, you can just go ahead and make one article (lets go with Doom Bolt Spell, since it should be easiest). I'll check it over and we can both decide whether you'll go on to write the rest of them. So let me know. --Headrock (Talk) 23:23, September 6, 2012 (UTC) P.S. Final opinion from you on the icons above would be awesome. P.P.S. I'm considering writing the item articles next. So the pics you uploaded are going to show up on the wiki pretty soon. : Ok. Well I've tried the Doom Bolt Spell article so let me know what you think. Hopefully the style will seem similar to the way you write the articles but let me know if you spot any mistakes or think of a better way to put something --Rethgaul 12:22, September 7, 2012 (UTC) Hey, I made a minor edit, but I also kept thinking that you might want to mention that Warlocks are a Dark Elf unit somewhere in the article. I've been known to be wrong, so just a thought. :) --MysticX2 12:50, September 7, 2012 (UTC) Good article! I could only find a few very minor problems, check the article history. In particular, note Defence vs. Defense (American game... I had problems with that too at the beginning :) ). Also, are we sure that Doom Bolt can't be countered? Other than that it's just fine - if you want, feel free to make the other two articles. --Headrock (Talk) 14:02, September 7, 2012 (UTC) P.S. I'm not too bothered about mentioning that Warlocks are a Dark Elf unit, but maybe it should be mentioned once somewhere. --Headrock (Talk) 14:02, September 7, 2012 (UTC) :: You're right, it can be countered by node's at least so I assume it acts as normal, must have just got lucky when I tested it. I'll change it tomorrow when I'm not feeling so rubbish. Also makes me wonder how it fits into the dispelling formula now. I'd assume it must just use Doom Bolt's base mp cost of 40mp but it would be very hard to test!! I'll also drop a Dark Elf mention somewhere in the article as well, it wouldn't hurt to have it in there somewhere. --Rethgaul 20:46, September 7, 2012 (UTC) So how about Summon Demons and Fireball Spell? --Headrock (Talk) 12:13, September 10, 2012 (UTC) : Yeah, sorry. Just been busy the last couple of days. I'll try and find some time tomorrow :) --Rethgaul 22:01, September 10, 2012 (UTC) No pressure, it was just a reminder in case you forgot ;). --Headrock (Talk) 23:56, September 10, 2012 (UTC) Spell Save - ideas? I'm going to put in an icon for the Spell Save penalty found on some items. Currently I've got this: . It's really really not ideal. Do you have any ideas about what kind of icon should be used? --Headrock (Talk) 22:57, September 13, 2012 (UTC)